Sunday, May 21, 2006

Catching Up

I have gotten behind on my blog. The last time I posted was Wednesday, when I did the brick workout. I didn't get up early the next morning, and instead I did a 4 mile run during my lunch break at work. It actually turned out to be 4.1 miles in 37:41 - 9:11 pace. I wasn't pushing very hard, since my legs were somewhat tired from the night before, so I was pleased with the 9:11 pace.

On Friday, I went to the rec center early. I got on the eliptical for the first time in about a year and warmed up for about 10 minutes to get my blood flowing. Then I did a pretty good weight workout, something I've been wanting to do more regular lately. I worked abs, chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and back. Then I did some leg lifts for the quads, and some lunges for my butt. It was a good workout, then I headed down to the pool. I think this probably turned out to be the best swim workout I've had in a long time. I first did a 1750 yards (or a mile) in 37:19. I realize that's pretty slow compared to most people, but it's actually pretty good for me. I'll take it. I then had a few more minutes before I had to leave, so I did 3 x 100's. The splits were:

1:521:551:53

I think my long term swimming goal will be to eventually get to where I can hold that pace for 500 yards...and then for 1000 yards.

Then Saturday, I decided to a long run of 12 miles. I set out around 9:10 a.m., without a fuel belt, or any money. I felt fine up until around mile 8, when I need some water BAD. I was passing by the post office in town, and I thought "Surely the post office has a water fountain inside." I walked through doors and looked around - Wrong. So I left and kept going. It was 87 degrees, and the humidity was terrible. Then I came upon the fire stationa and saw the firemen sitting in the garage. I ran over to them and asked if there was a water fountain there. They said "No, but we have a 5 jug full of ice cold water, how about that?" I said "PERFECT!" So they gave me a big mason jar and I filled it up with water and drank until it gave me a brain freeze. That was the coldest water I've ever had in my life!! That costed me a couple minutes, and I ended up with an 11:29 mile for mile 7, which sucked becaused I had a fairly good pace going on considering the heat and humidity. My splits were:

My overall pace was 9:44/mile, and if you were to take off the 2 minutes off when I stopped to get water, it would have been about 9:34...which is pretty close to what I was shooting for.

Average HR this time was 167 bpm, and it said my max was 209 bpm. I guess that's a little more believable. This time I put some water on the monitor and wore it around and let it get warmed up good before I took off. Maybe that's the trick.

I think Holly and I may go run the Cotton Row 10k in Huntsville on Memorial Day. I have run several 5ks, an 8k, several half marathons, and a marathon - but I have never run a 10k. I think it's time to do that.

I did that when I was training for my marathon :). I actually went to the library. In the kiddies' section, they have a water foutain. So this sweaty guy goes into the library, walk over the kiddies' section.filled up and head back out.. :)